Suggestions for enchouraging solo PvP

[Lujan]

I don't have a lot of game time, so rarely group, and would like more solo PvP opportunities.

At the moment its seems I'm not wanted in the red circles. Nation chat warns solo players to stay out, as our vulnerability gives contention points to the enemy etc...

As the game needs more players, not less, how about some tweaks to encourage more solo, lowbie players like me to get in the red circles, so you hard core PvPers can have more fun sinking us ?

Nobody needs encouraging to get into gank groups, safety in numbers etc. Groups should be about naval dominance, surely there should be more useful roles for solo ships trying to slip though etc? I'd suggest the following :

1) Give groups a stealth penalty, the bigger the group, the bigger the penalty. So solo hunting/running becomes more tempting, and ganking gets a little nerf. It makes sense, as its easier to spot groups of ships, and they look suspicious

2) Create some mission types giving high XP or money that involve running the gauntlet of the red circle. Say you have to pick the mission up in another port, and travel to a red circle port to complete. Like a supply run with obvious risks and high PvE rewards. Would encourage solo traffic though the red circles for those who like risks.

3) Maybe tweak the unrest system so solo NPC kills give more unrest to encourage solo players. Interesting tactics then, solo players sinking NPCs with groups protecting/hunting them and attempting to establish naval dominance.

3) Encourage lowbies by having some "shallow water" ports where large/huge/collossal ships cant go. So port battles would also exclude these ships in these waters - might add some essential variety too.

Any legs on these suggestions?

[Spinnaker Sam]

1) Would just mean players remain ungrouped, but would still be able to enter the instance within the 60 second period. So it wouldn't improve the solo opportunties any more than they are now. It would just be an annoyance for those who prefer having group chat and automatic entry into an instance.

2)Groups of players would run these missions for the increased reward. Thus negating any targets of opportunity for solo players. Red Zones are not always a guantlet. Last night on Bonny around Santo Domingo all there were was French players. I as a Frenchman could have made easy xp and money running goods through that red zone with no threat to myself.

3) Good idea, but it can be screwed over when other unwelcomed players decide to jump into your instance to "help".

4) Alot of rank 50 players sail around in low level ships. This would not necessarily help out the lowbie characters. Although it would make low level ships more useful. This is a suggestion that has been made numerous times.

[MayaBlack]

I like the idea of 1), but this is a valid point:

"Would just mean players remain ungrouped, but would still be able to enter the instance within the 60 second period."

... but it could be resolved by removing the entry timer. Make it so other players can only join in if they are in the same group, suffering the stealth penalty.

If the penalty was strong enough, groups would tend to break up, leading to more solo opportunities - and there would be an advantage to solo play.

[Spinnaker Sam]

It only takes a few moments to group up. So people would still sail around ungrouped, and then when they spot a target or see incoming ships, they quickly do the /invite and suddenly they are grouped. I think the effect would be that people that group would not use stealth gear and so wouldn't really change the way they play. It would be interesting to see what would happen though.

You could force people to group up only while in a port, but then that hurts the people that want to group up while sailing around and makes it harder for Freetraders to pick up an escort just before the enter a PvP zone.

[Vixentrox]

I almost exclusivly pvp solo. Sounds like your server populated by jerks and children. Screw them. Play how you want.